Wharington wins court battle
by Bindy Lockhart on 5 Aug 2006
Skandia blasts down the harbour_Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2004 Crosbie Lorimer
http://www.crosbielorimer.com
'Nail biting stuff. We are in front right now and have been crossing back
and forth with Konica almost since the start of this great race. Skandia
entered the Bass Strait at about 1 am this morning, and with winds expected
to reach 35 knots tonight it looks like a really cold wet and bumpy ride.'
On Dec 28 2004 while leading the race, and short from winning Line Honours,
Skandia's hydraulic keel rams failed and snapped in two, and Grant
Wharington, the man who sold his house to build the boat and find his Holy
Grail by winning the 2003 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, was forced to
abandon ship, save his crew and leave his beleaguered yacht to her fate in
the middle of the Bass Strait.
The yacht lost its keel, capsized and was extensively damaged. The empty
hull was eventually towed to safety. Against all the odds Wharington managed
to rebuild the yacht but there is no doubt that this tragedy took its toll.
At 10.15 am today, Friday August 4 2006 the healing process began for
Wharington. After a lengthy court battle a judgment was handed down by
Justice Byrne at the Supreme Court in Melbourne finding that the supplier of
the hydraulic cylinders that controlled the innovative design canting keel
had breached their contract and supplied inadequate hydraulic cylinders for
the duty specified by the yacht's designer Don Jones.
'As history shows Konica pulled out of the race with their own damage and
if this failure had not occurred we would have had a clear path for
'Skandia' to win back to back Line Honours,' said Wharington today. 'That
was our ultimate goal and nothing can change that now. However, today's
judgment was a great result and a real step forward, an important milestone
in our case. Although the quantum (the financial recompense) will be decided
later, we will be celebrating tonight for sure. It's been a long time coming
and we are all delighted'.
Wharington went on to thank his legal team headed by Eric Vadarlis and all
the other people involved in the court case.
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